review · Naunyn-Schmiedeberg s Archives of Pharmacology
Modulating the gut microbiota offers potential therapeutic routes for conditions ranging from gastrointestinal infections to neurodegenerative and mental health disorders. Gut microbiota modulators, including probiotics and prebiotics, show promise in neuroprotection and infection prevention. However, inconsistent effectiveness across varied patient groups and ongoing safety concerns currently limit their adoption in clinical practice. Exploring strategies to repurpose these modulators encompasses interventions such as dietary adjustments, faecal microbiota transplantation, bacteriophage therapy, microbiome engineering, and immune system modulation. Combining these modulators with targeted pharmaceutical delivery systems provides a route to improve treatment efficacy, minimise adverse effects, and manage patient variability. Progressing these microbiota-based interventions into viable clinical applications requires comprehensive clinical trials and long-term safety evaluations to support personalised precision medicine strategies across multiple health conditions.
Gastrointestinal, neurological, and mental health disorders present complex treatment challenges. Targeting the gut microbiome provides a versatile way to address these diverse conditions simultaneously. Improving the safety and consistency of gut microbiota modulators through advanced delivery systems helps pave the way toward personalised medicine, potentially offering safer and more reliable therapeutic options for varied patient groups.
The work points towards therapeutic applications combining gut microbiota modulators with pharmaceutical delivery systems for clinical use. Potential users include biopharmaceutical developers and clinicians treating gastrointestinal, neurological, or mental disorders. Because the approach relies on repurposing strategies, microbiome engineering, and advanced drug delivery that still require comprehensive clinical trials and long-term safety assessments, the technology remains at an early stage of clinical translation.
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The modulation of gut microbiota presents promising therapeutic possibilities for various health conditions, ranging from gastrointestinal infections to neurodegenerative and mental health disorders. Among the available interventions, gut microbiota modulators (GMMs) such as probiotics and prebiotics have demonstrated significant potential in infection prevention and neuroprotection. Despite these encouraging findings, the clinical application of GMMs remains challenging due to safety concerns and inconsistent effectiveness across diverse patient populations. These factors create substantial barriers to the widespread adoption of microbiota-based therapies in clinical practice. To overcome these challenges and fully leverage the therapeutic potential of microbiota modulation, this review explores the feasibility of repurposing GMMs for managing multiple health disorders. A broad spectrum of microbiota-targeted strategies is examined, including dietary modifications, fecal microbiota transplantation, bacteriophage therapy, microbiome engineering, and immune system modulation. A particularly innovative approach involves integrating GMMs with pharmaceutical delivery systems to enhance therapeutic efficacy while mitigating potential adverse effects. This integrative strategy underscores the pivotal role of the gut microbiome in health and disease, supporting the development of precision medicine tailored to individual patient needs. By combining GMMs with targeted delivery mechanisms, this approach not only improves treatment effectiveness but also addresses critical concerns regarding safety and patient variability. Furthermore, this review outlines future research directions within the rapidly evolving field of microbiota modulation, emphasizing the necessity of comprehensive clinical trials and long-term safety evaluations. By critically assessing both the challenges and opportunities associated with microbiota-based interventions, this study provides a strategic framework for translating experimental research into viable clinical applications. A holistic approach to gut microbiota modulation has the potential to redefine treatment paradigms, offering personalized therapeutic strategies for a wide range of disorders and advancing the broader field of precision medicine.
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DOI: 10.1007/s00210-025-04155-2
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